You are right about that it is different but look here:
https://elinux.org/OSK
The Angstrom distribution provides a replacement kernel and root file system for the OSK, based on the 2.6 kernel.
So it seems to be modified linux version.
Must be, as some modules used by realtek are deliverd as binaries (like for bosa driver).
There must be some real world under the hood
I don't see the link with this, on this page "OSK" is for "OMAP Starter Kit".
Here it's probably something like "OS Kernel".
I didn't see anything in it which suggests it would be related to Linux, except a few leftover strings like .ko or .so names (but not enough).
The entry point is near the end of the whole image, and there is no rootfs.
Since it's a single binary, this would be a huge GPL violation (but they probably wouldn't care).
In uboot : "Booting kernel from OSK Image".
There are "OSK1FS" partitions for the settings.
In the image, there are strings showing specific "osk" support in the SDK :
- "Diag shell for osk"
- "rtkbosa for osk"
- "oskFatal", "oskError", "oskRechedule"
- "../../swbase/kernel/SWITCH/osksub.c"
- "../../swbase/csp/rtl86900/sdk/src/app/diag_rtk/src/parser/cparser_io_osk.c"
- "../../swbase/csp/rtl86900/sdk/src/app/omci_v1/omci_osk_main.c"
- "../../swbase/application/feature/rg_func_osk.c"
- various omci_osk_* function names
- "/CN/cnsd5/trunk/adsl/branches/osk_multiwan"
The advantage over a Linux system would be the size, the V2802RH only has a 4MB SPI NOR (while other known RTL9601 devices have either 8MB or 16MB).
The image itself it about 2MB, and is 13MB once uncompressed.